Less Than A Month...

...Hey! It's been less than a month since my last blog. So there's that.... Let's play some serious catch up.

Garde Manger
After the Christmas break, I started one of the two classes that I signed up at LCB for, Garde Manger (gahr mahn-zjay). I was SUPER PUMPED!!! Sausage making and charcuterie? What more could a boy ask for? Instead, we spent 9 days making mirror presentations, 4 days making salads and sandwiches, and we made mayonnaise 6 times by hand. I did learn stuff. No question. Over all though, it was kind of disappointing. That's a bummer, but I'll get over it. I did do this cool stuff though:

Mystery Basket













For our final in this class, we had to do a "Mystery Basket". We were giving a random collection of items and made to make a soup, an appetizer, entree and dessert. I was given advice from a former student to not get creative, just stick with the regular stuff that we've learned in school. So I threw down a clear vegetable soup and bacon-wrapped scallops over grilled asparagus for my soup and app. I banged out braised veal shank with whipped potatoes and hericot vert for my entree. And then I got a little crazy with dessert.














BOOM! Lemon sorbet, strawberry coulis, brunoise strawberry, and candied lemon zest in a tuile cookie bowl. Yowzers. I nailed it.

ICE SHARK!!!!!!!
Also too, this. ICE SHARK!!!! We did melon carving and ice carving the second to last week of class. This was supposed to be a dolphin, but Greg and I saw a shark, so we made it a shark. So there.














Technique Café
After Garde Manger, we moved on to the café at the school. FINALLY, we are allowed to be creative and we are left to just make food and work a line. Like this:













My pal Law needed some help with his special and then wasn't able to make it to class, so I was left to execute it. Blackened tilapia tacos with black bean pico de gallo, cholula aioli, cabbage and cilantro, served with cilantro lime rice. Not only did it sell out before 1 o'clock, but the Chief of Chefs and Executive Chef of Restaurants from the school came to the back and complimented me on this dish. Yea. That actually happened.

We also made braised veal cheeks with horseradish mashed potatoes, spinach, and honey-glazed carrots. Real good stuff.














Hopdoddy Burger Bar
If you live in Austin, and you are not eating at Hopdoddy Burger Bar on a regular basis, why not? It's great. They make their own buns. The grind their own meat. They make the ice cream that they make shakes out of. This here burger on the left is the "Terlingua". It's got Fritos, chili, and cheddar. It's delicious.












Larry's 59th
Summer's dad, Larry's, birthday was last week. So Summer and her mom decided to throw him a party today. We drove to good ol' Browntown to cater that party. Here's what we made:

Chicken Teriyaki













I marinated chicken tenders overnight in homemade teriyaki sauce. Today, we broiled them in a nice hot oven; glazed them again with teriyaki sauce; and topped them at service with sriracha aioli, pickled red onions, and cilantro. Not a HUGE hit with the sunday school crowd, but I thought they were killer.

Fruit Tray













Not a lot special here about the fruit tray, except the canteloupe carving I did there. Larry's been teaching drama and speech at Brownwood High School for like 30 years, so I carved the drama masks in to a melon.

Chicken Fried Steak on a Stick













Yep. No, you're not at the Texas State Fair. You're sitting at your computer reading my blog. I breaded cube steak strips in seasoned flour, then egg wash, then Japanese bread crumbs yesterday. Today, I fried em and served them with cream gravy. All the deliciousness of CFS with no fork necessary. Delicious. Handy. Genius.

That's about it for now. Hopefully, it will keep you held over until the next..... whenever that may be. Stay tuned!